Mohammed Rajab Sadiq Abu Ghanim
Mohammed Rajab Sadiq Abu Ghanim is held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.list of prisoners, US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006 His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number is 44. As of November 15, 2009, Mohammed Rajab Sadiq Abu Ghanim has been held at Guantanamo for seven years 10 months. Background Mohammed is alleged to have volunteered to fight in Bosnia's war of liberation, and the Yemeni Civil War, prior to heading to Afghanistan to volunteer to serve as a fighter for the Taliban. He is alleged to have been an Osama bin Laden bodyguard, to know about a secret bigger than al Qaida's attacks on September 11, 2001, although he told interrogators he had only served with the Taliban, and had never met Osama bin Laden. Combatant Status Review Tribunal Initially the Bush administration asserted that they could withhold all the protections of the Geneva Conventions to captives from the war on terror. mirror This policy was challenged before the Judicial branch. Critics argued that the USA could not evade its obligation to conduct competent tribunals to determine whether captives are, or are not, entitled to the protections of prisoner of war status. Subsequently the Department of Defense instituted the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The Tribunals, however, were not authorized to determine whether the captives were lawful combatants -- rather they were merely empowered to make a recommendation as to whether the captive had previously been correctly determined to match the Bush administration's definition of an enemy combatant. Allegations A Summary of Evidence memo prepared for his Tribunal states OARDEC, CSRT Summary of Evidence memo for Mohammed Rajab Sadiq Abu Ghanim, United States Department of Defense -- pages 52-53 -- October 21, 2004: First annual Administrative Review Board hearing A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Mohammed Rajab Sadiq Abu Ghanim's first annual Administrative Review Board in 2005. The six page memo listed fifty "primary factors favoring continued detention" and four "primary factors favoring release or transfer". Thirteen of those factors justified his continued detention based on allegations he had volunteered to fight during the civil war in the former Yugoslavia that lead to the independence of Bosnia. He was alleged to have received a month of military training at a training camp for foreign volunteers in Mehrez, Bosnia, in 1994. He was alleged to have fought in the Yemeni Civil War after leaving Bosnia following the signing of the Dayton Accords. He was alleged to have investigated traveling to volunteer as a fighter in Chechnya. He was alleged to have traveled to volunteer as a fighter in Afghanistan in 2000. He was alleged to have been an Osama bin Laden bodyguard. However, he claimed he only fought with the Taliban, only served in Taliban units. He was alleged to have told interrogators he knew something about a "serum" that, once injected, would dissolve bodies. He was alleged to be related to someone who played a role in the USS Cole bombing. The factors state that when he fled the American aerial bombardment of Afghanistan he was captured with about 30 other at the Pakistani border who were all sent to Guantanamo. He was alleged to have an association with a charity called al Wafa that American intelligence officials assert has ties to terrorism. The factors stated he had recanted his confessions of an association with al Wafa, claiming: "It was a story he had made up because he was being beaten." He was alleged to have told interrogators that he knew a very shocking secret, bigger than the attacks on September 11, 2001, which he was withholding from them. The factors also recorded that the claimed this report of a big secret was due to translation errors, and he knew no big secrets. Second annual Administrative Review Board hearing A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Mohammed R Abu Ghanim's second annual Administrative Review Board in 2006. The four page memo listed thirty-five "primary factors favoring continued detention" and eight "primary factors favoring release or transfer". Third annual Administrative Review Board hearing A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for his third annual Administrative Review Board in 2007. The five page memo listed thirty-three "primary factors favoring continued detention" and nine "primary factors favoring release or transfer". Board recommendations One January 9, 2009, the Department of Defense published two heavily redacted memos, from his Board, to Gordon England, the Designated Civilian Official. The Board's recommendation was unanimous The Board's recommendation was redacted. England authorized his continued detention on March 17, 2008. The Board considered reports from seven different agencies. References Category:People held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp Category:Yemeni extrajudicial prisoners of the United States Category:Living people Category:Year of birth uncertain